An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c46.217

v2.c46.217

The megaliths located in groups over a distance of 3 km on different terraces of the hillock, together numbering more than 500, are large passage chambers without port-hole, of essentially two types on the basis of the ground plan: passage chamber of Greek or Latin cross type and circular passage chamber. Within the chamber are pillars fixed in order to carry multiple capstones. The chambers of the two types are respectively closed within a rectangle or two concentric circles or a circle and a rectangle, with packing of rubble in between. The passage is almost invariably oriented s.wards or between s.-w. and s.-e. The first type has no parallel elsewhere in the region while the second is vaguely comparable with the excavated Megalith 3 of SANUR which is described as 'dolmenoid cist' with a short passage. One megalith of each type was excavated but all were found to have been previously disturbed. Very small fragments of human bones, highly burnished red ware as well as dull coarse red ware comprising the vase with collared or grooved rim and lid with flanged waist and Black-and-red Ware [11.15.3] including the shallow dish with vertical side the sagger base were obtained, besides the lower part of round-bottomed red vase containing small pieces of human bones is Megalith II. The passage chamber tombs are reasonably placed between 1200-700 B.C.